The Verdict according to Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

When I look at Nigeria, I find that my countrymen and women tend to suffer certain common ailments. We suffer from selective amnesia we conveniently forget certain unpleasant facts about our journey through life as a polity. When we look at the landscape of our journey into nationhood, we discover that, by and large, we suffer selective myopia our vision skips areas we find unpleasant no matter how recent. If we look at the distant past, then we find we are afflicted with the same degree of selective hyperopia we perceive and draw lessons only from convenient happenings in our history and from convenient sources of our national chronicle…
--Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu in his book, Because I am Involved

Ordinarily, it would not have mattered that most members of my generation were either not born during the civil war or that we were too young to comprehend what was going on if the real dramatis personae had told their stories. Unfortunately, up till now, then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has not given his account and his body language doesn’t suggest he is inclined to ever doing so. What we have therefore been reading thus far on the civil war from the Nigerian side are the accounts of part-players. On the Biafran side, it has been a similar tale of the supporting cast fretting their hours upon the stage.

It is therefore in that context that many Nigerians can appreciate the death last Sunday of Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who promised us the Biafran ‘Book’ he probably never wrote. Yet as is typical of this season, so much is being said and written of Ojukwu such that what we now have in the public space are the memories of a myth and not the man. We now read about his patriotism (of both Biafra and Nigeria in equal measure!) and there is also the usual cliché of his death being the end of an era. In Nigeria, whenever a big man dies so does the era in which he lived!

Yet Ojukwu was a man who needs to be properly interrogated in the context of the role he played not only in shaping our country but also in the contradictions that are yet to be resolved as we search for peace and prosperity. Courtesy of one of his friends and ‘Biafran compatriots’, Senator (Comrade) Uche Chukwumerije, I have sufficient materials for a serious disquisition by way of a long paper on Ojukwu which is, however, a project for another day. But definitely it will be done before his burial. What is important for now, however, is that care be taken by his family and those to whom he was very close not to mismanage his transition.

At this period, every prominent Igbo man (including those who never really liked him) would want a piece of Ojukwu because it is a politically correct thing to do and many will be ready to pay any price for that cause. Already, there are tales of some political scavengers descending on London to demand for Ojukwu’s corpse while back at home a people known for their industry are being asked not to work again because Ojukwu is dead. Yet it would be tragic if those who would want to use Ojukwu’s demise to advance their own career do not pay him the proper honour he deserves. And that honour will not be in turning his burial into the banality of ferrying his corpse across four countries as I read somewhere. No, that would be debasing the memory of Ojukwu who, whatever else you may say about him, was a man of ideas and very intellectual. What would be befitting for a man like Ojukwu is a properly run Centre, probably located in Ahiara, where some of his ideas and mementoes can be preserved for posterity.

During the week, Senator Chukwumerije kindly obliged me several literatures on Ojukwu and while I have just started reading, I am amazed at the profundity of his thoughts and the force of his argument that Nigeria could not possibly work under the current arrangement. The sad aspect for me, however, is that he never wrote his memoir or perhaps he did. We will find out very soon. In his foreword to the book, Emeka, a short biography of his written by his friend and famous British novelist, Frederick Forsyth (author of ‘The Day of the Jackal’ among others), Ojukwu had written: “Much has been written about me over the past 15 years, and a great deal has been, alas, quite inaccurate…At certain times, friends have suggested that I should write my autobiography, telling the story of my life in my own words. But I always felt that the moment was not yet right; that the hour has not yet come when I could tell the whole truth of the tumultuous events in which I played some small part”.

In the current matter of his burial, Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, who in the last couple of years, has played the role of a son to Ojukwu can lead the charge but he should work with other South East Governors. That is all the more appropriate because before Ojukwu led Biafra, he was Governor of the entire Eastern Region. So they all have a stake in preserving Ojukwu’s legacy and they don’t have to look far for a worthy example to emulate. The Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja has become a reference point in how to immortalise a loved one. It is becoming perhaps the only private institution in memory of any Nigerian that is not only professional and well-run but also has an intellectual content.

If my hunch is right, I would want to bet that Ojukwu indeed wrote ‘the book’ and kept the publication as a post-humous offering to Nigeria. He was too much a serious man not to have something documented when he had the presence of mind to write ‘Because I am Involved’ which recounted some of his exile-years experience. Interestingly, in the collection of books and journals given me by Chukumerije is this copy titled ‘Biafra: Selected Speeches and Journal of Events’, authored by a certain C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, ‘General of the People’s Army’, it is highly revealing of events during the war in Ojukwu’s own words. In the blurb to the back cover is also a quote attributed to Richard West, who wrote for the Sunday Times of London: “Biafra is more than a human tragedy. Its defeat, I believe, would mark the end of African independence. Biafra was the first place I had been to in Africa where Africans themselves were truly in charge.”

So much has been written about Ojukwu’s competence (or lack of one) as a war leader but going through his speeches and the insights provided in the diary, there can be no doubt about the fact that he would have made a very good peace-time leader given his oratory and capacity to rouse his people to action. That perhaps explained the ingenuity of the Biafran scientists which the Nigerian authorities unfortunately failed to nurture after the war.

All said, I find Ojukwu a very fascinating character worth studying and I intend to read more about him with the collections from Chukwumerije. I will also seek out my long-lost brother, Kanayo Esinulo, who was with Ojukwu throughout his exile years in Cote D’voire as his personal secretary and must have interesting recollections. But whatever anybody may say about Ojukwu, what was never in doubt was that he had a strong conviction that Nigeria can never be sustained by the current structure that neither takes into account our diversity nor the potentials of what each can bring to (not take from) the table under a more equitable union. Can we in all honesty say he was wrong?

Return of Lamorde
If there is anybody whose temperament suits the office of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, it is Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, who was last week elevated (for the second time) from his position as Director of Operations following the removal of Mrs Farida Waziri. Lamorde is very quiet, effective, professional and does not seek the limelight--a man who would rather his work speak for him. At a time like this when EFCC needs to restore its credibility, there can indeed be no better choice and I believe President Goodluck Jonathan deserves commendation for righting the wrong (I feel ashamed to admit) was done by my late boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

If there is indeed one issue which damaged Yar’Adua, it was the (mis)management of EFCC but given that it is well documented in my coming book (to be launched in Abuja on December 13: see details on page 15), I would rather not comment on it here. While Mrs Waziri gave her best, the circumstances under which she assumed office had made things difficult for her and she never really quite got over them. Notwithstanding, I don’t think she was well treated with the manner in which her removal was done such that she had to hear it from the media. But all said, I restate my conviction that President Jonathan made the right call and it is now left for Mr Lamorde to justify the confidence of most Nigerians who see in him a diligent and upright police officer who abhors corruption and is ready to fight it.

Arise o Great Ife!
It is a measure of how far things have degenerated on our campuses today that for two weeks I wrote about the conditions at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, and there has been no word from the school authority about my intervention. Yet I have received mails from all over the world from people who graduated from Ife and are willing to help. The mail from Tunji Jeboda, a Petroleum Engineer with Chevron Nigeria Limited, indeed underscores the problem of our university administration today. He wrote: “I am responding to your article on Great Ife because it’s something I’m concerned about especially given the fact we can easily get the resources needed to transform this school. This is a school we could easily use to showcase Nigeria but sadly the authorities are not on top of their game and they are not even asking for help. If you can work with them and they need help some of us will gladly oblige and provide links to people who are also willing.”

I don’t think we should worry about the authorities at Ife, we should just go ahead with our own plans. Fortunately, I was put in the loop by a group of successful former Ife graduates who are already working on a “Special Endowment” proposal to generate a billion Naira annually by establishing a ‘Platinum Group’ whose members will each voluntarily commit to contribute N1m yearly for 10 years. “We shall compile a list for the President and VC to jointly write/interact with them individually and secure their consent and first cheque. The scheme will be formally launched sometimes in 2012. When we've reached the first N1 billion target, the next phase for other categories can then follow throughout 2012. A special Board of Trustees (BOT) will be set up to manage the maintenance fund. We should individually commence compilation of the 1000-list, to be harmonised when we have finalised the full logistics and unveil the plan to the University. I am very optimistic that people will struggle to join the elite 1000 group,” they wrote.

The people involved in this group are respected professionals who want to give back and when I secure their permission, I will list their names on this page. Beyond that, I will also join their ‘Platinum Group’ of N1 million a year and will drag in as many people I know graduated from Ife and can afford to give back that much. It’s time to rise for Great Ife

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/because-he-was-involved/104018/

All the problems you have listed in this your write-up are valid. . .
But now you should know that Nigeria is just struggling to be a country inhabited by pseudo-humans.
Why don't you spare yourself the headache. . .and do the right thing.

DON'T BE PART OF THE ROT. . .ADOPT ANOTHER COUNTRY!

It is therefore in that context that many Nigerians can appreciate the death last Sunday of Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who promised us the Biafran ‘Book’ he probably never wrote.

Humping on Bianca is a full time job you know.

Or the 'Free Education' your Pa Awo died and never gave Nigeria.

You are absolutely correct about Nigerians. . . but please remove thy log from thine own eyes first!